Small Things Like These

In 1985, during the weeks preceding Christmas in a small Irish town, coal merchant Bill Furlong balances the demands of his business and his responsibility to his wife and daughters. While making a delivery to the local convent, Furlong discovers a young woman locked in a coal shed, exposing the systemic abuse occurring within the Magdalene Laundries. This encounter forces him to confront the town’s reliance on the church’s authority and his own childhood history as the son of an unwed domestic servant.

Readers of historical fiction and lean, realist prose choose this novella to examine the tension between private morality and communal silence. It appeals to those interested in the social history of Ireland and the logistical reality of whistleblowing in a closed society. The reader concludes the story with a precise understanding of how small acts of decency conflict with the instinct for self-preservation. It provides a clear look at the material and social costs of refusing to ignore institutional cruelty.